


shamor v'zachor

by facingthenorthwind (spacegandalf)



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: F/F, Jewish Character, Judaism, LGBTQ Jewish Character(s), Set after S3M35
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5445212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegandalf/pseuds/facingthenorthwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paula hasn't had a Shabbat since the outbreak.</p><p>[spoilers for S3M35, set soon after]</p>
            </blockquote>





	shamor v'zachor

Paula hadn't had a Shabbat since the outbreak.

Not that she had too much of a Shabbat now, of course -- there were still zombies, still things to do, she could hardly take 25 hours off to do nothing. But when Maxine had brought her candles, said there was special dispensation from Janine for her to use them for religious occasions --

She'd not known what day of the week it was when she was working for Van Ark. It was unimportant. The world didn't run on days of the week after the collapse of civilisation. But here at Abel the days of the week still had meaning because on Wednesdays there was knitting group and on Saturday night there was a movie in the rec hall, and even though she'd never shown any interest before the end of the world, Maxine would find her after she'd finished up at the hospital on Friday evening, wrapping her arms around her from behind and kissing her neck before asking if she wanted to light candles.

She used birthday candles. Her kiddush cup was a normal metal regulation type thing, but for her birthday Maxine had presented her with it engraved, 'שבת שלום' in big letters. She'd got the rabbi over in New Canton to write it down, and Kytan had done the engraving, she said. The rabbi had offered to write out her name, too, but Maxine hadn't known what it was, not even Paula's Hebrew name let alone her parents -- 

It was perfect, Paula had said, kissing her softly and hoping if she kissed her for long enough the ache in the back of her throat would go away and she wouldn't cry. She knew Maxine's relationship with religion and she understood that she hadn't wanted anything to do with it, Before. She'd happily eat latkes and hamentaschen and was very amenable to the double mitzvah of having sex on Shabbat, but she'd never gone to shul with Paula or attended a seder. And here she was going all the way to a rabbi in another township to engrave the right thing on a kiddush cup.

So now, at the end of the world, she lit two birthday candles, wafted the light towards her, covered her eyes and said the bracha, making Shabbat. This, at least, was unchanged by everything: it was still the same familiar words she'd heard since childhood. And there was a thrill of looking at those flickering flames and knowing that she did that, she made Shabbat by lighting those. She took the kiddush cup and filled it with whatever was available -- sometimes juice, but often it was just water -- and sang kiddush softly by the light of the candles, as her girlfriend sat next to her. Sometimes Maxine closed her eyes, sometimes she stared at the flames, sometimes she looked as if she were memorising Paula's face, but she was always there, present in a way she'd never been back home.

Once she'd made kiddush she took a moment to breathe, to feel like this was, if not a whole day, then just a moment of rest. And then she blew the candles out so she could use them next Shabbat. The apocalypse had taken Shabbat from her, but it couldn't take this.

**Author's Note:**

> the engraving says 'shabbat shalom', lit. 'sabbath peace', the traditional greeting on shabbat. the title is 'keep and remember' in hebrew, referencing the difference between the commandment about shabbat in exodus vs deuteronomy. it's most familiar from the first verse of 'lecha dodi', sung on friday nights to welcome shabbat. traditionally, you are not allowed to do 'work' on shabbat, which has a technical definition and includes lighting fires, writing, all kinds of things it would be literally impossible to stop doing for a whole day after the outbreak.


End file.
